Curious Lola

Overwhelmed? Maybe you DON’T need to deal with it.

I came across an interesting insight the other day: the idea that not all problems need to be solved right now– or ever.

Maybe sometimes it’s okay to let some things that are confusing or ambiguous just ‘be’ so I can either work on some more important tasks or give myself more time to develop clarity on those confusing problems.

And in letting them ‘be’, I can liberate my brain from dealing with the emotional strife of not being able to get to them.

How do you know the difference?
The big ones are the things you just cannot tolerate in your life. If you simply cannot stomach another day in your soul-sucking job, if you cannot tolerate a toxic client, if you need to pay the bills.

The little things are urgent but not important. Maybe things that you feel that businesses like you do, but that don’t get you the outcome you need right now. (ehem, social media).

So much of my business journey has been learning to manage stress. And by manage, I mean let it go. Because I’ve found that it really is a choice. I am not a better business owner by being worried all the time. There’s a difference between alert, fully aware, intense even vs being stressed out.
One is positive and constructive, the other is just not helpful- or healthful for that matter.

And it IS possible. We’ve all been there when we are be-bopping along in our lives, with whatever stress we are dealing with when BAM! Some emergency happens with our family and suddenly- there is only one thing that matters. On the positive side, I remember being stressed one morning 10 years ago, my husband proposed to me that day, and WHOOSH, only one thing mattered. All the stress was gone. So much in fact, that I didn’t show up to a consultation with a potential client. Yup, I stood them up. And that just doesn’t happen in my brain.

So you know it can happen, but you can also choose to make it happen with practice. You aren’t forgetting them exactly, just healthily procrastinating on them- but also wiping out the emotional baggage they carry.

So if you are dealing with crushing overwhelm, I am giving you permission to let some things go.

You don’t need to stay on top of your social media if there are pressing things.

You don’t need to respond to that email NOW,

You don’t need to go to that fourth open house this week.

Hey, you don’t even need to grow your business if something else matters more right now.

You and your business will be just fine.

We’ve all heard that word ‘balance’. Blech.
I’ve got a growing business, a growing family, a team of employees, and some pretty ambitious goals. It’s a lot manage and balance seems like something always out of reach. The word balance makes my eyeball twitch.

To me, balance isn’t the goal, it’s meaningful progress and support to what matters to me: my family, my business, my employees, and my person creative fulfillment.
It’s not a static place to get to, it is constant adjustments in a never-ending process that lights me up and generates its own energy.

I cannot juggle, but I can throw one ball up in the air and catch it. The kind of juggle I deal with now looks like this:

fully switching attention to one focus,

making meaningful progress,

transitioning to a new focus by fully mentally releasing the last focus,

and being present on the next area of focus.

So I can switch between about 1-3 focuses a day before I need some good ole rest, but I’ve got a bag full of other things to juggle when it is their time.

And when it is time to juggle something else, I have to put the current ball away to take out a new ball. Because if I spread my focus over two things, I’LL LOSE MY BALLS!

Here’s the important part though, While focusing on one thing, I cannot let the weight of another focus leak into my current focus. That’s how overwhelm and stress creeps in.

And every now and then, lots of balls have to be out of the bag. For example if I’m on site and sh** is goin down! Moments like these I have the strength to handle it. And it doesn’t crush me. And I can wrap up a job and be excited about doing it again. Because it’s not about being stressed- I just have to focus on throwing and catching my one ball.

PS, if you were wanting to catch the webinar but didn’t get a chance- you can check it out here! In it, we will go over how we make a fast floral wedding design proposal that is super effective at landing clients. Sign up here:
http://bit.ly/curiouslola-webinar-signup

Because making proposals should NOT be one of those things that stress you out.
Take care!

Emily

Lead with Art- How to Become Necessary

When you become NECESSARY to your clients, trust and freedom come naturally. Here’s how I learned this lesson when I learned to Lead With Art.

When I left my professional career as a landscape architect I didn’t know quite where I was headed. I was running away from a desk job, away from a machine that I felt was producing less than excellent quality, and running toward all the things I thought I needed.

One of those needs was a feeling that I needed to prove that my artistic skills and gifts were something that people wanted to pay money for. This was a big one because I knew I was talented but had never experience it valued.

No one had ever paid me lots of money for my artistic talents.

For speed and accuracy? yes.

For quality work? Yes.

For the ability to get a job done? Yes.

But no one had ever wanted to pay me lots of money because they valued my work artistically. And I wanted it to be VERY valued.

Because it wasn’t valued, I stopped offering it. Just stopped doing what I do naturally- find ways to bring different ideas and materials together artfully. And that’s when I broke down and broke out.

I wanted to support myself with my artistic talents and was set on figuring out how.

I’d never done it but I’d seen it done.

In college, I thought I would be a public artist so I got two degrees, one in landscape architecture and one in sculpture. I had the opportunity to be the assistant to a successful public artist for a few months. After working for him, I approached the Seattle arts commission (I think now it’s the office of arts and cultural affairs). I started a special project that would evaluate public art projects by landscape architecture design standards. Through those two experiences, I got to see how professional artists are chosen, how tax money is managed for major civic art installations, and how an individual artist placed on a build team presented to and interacted with the rest of the design and building team- so architects, city planners, construction managers, civil engineers, structural engineers.

It was fascinating.

What I saw was the power of maintaining a vision. Nobody wants to mess with the strange, mysterious artist’s vision.

In these meetings, after an artist is selected for a big project like a light rail station, The artist is on the design team to build out this project.

And what I saw was artists OWNING their art, OWNING its purpose and importance, and acting as a protector and steward for the kind of impact their art would have on the community.

Understanding, collaborative, but unapologetic.

For the most part, the engineers, architects, budget managers, would do what they could to make the artists vision possible. City code was reinterpreted, entries and windows were reoriented, ground was regraded, structures reinforced. They knew they didn’t need to fully understand why, they just knew that they needed to trust and find a way to fulfill this strange person’s request.

When I started as an art minded landscape architect, I thought, hot dog, I know how this is done! Let’s start making some earth art!

What do you think happened?

Pfthlat!

Barriers!

Condescension!

Suddenly budgets were too tight, construction schedules were too far behind, it didn’t work with the engineering approach, some other component cost more so my budget would have to be reduced.

My perceived value was different because at that time and place, I was not considered an artist. I was a mere landscape architect who had to obey the boring laws of all the other non-artists.

I see the EXACT SAME PHENOMENON working in floral design, and I imagine, every profession.

So now I know this:

LEAD WITH ART

I’m not saying that leading as an artist will get you everything you want; that everything you propose is not still flexible to your client’s needs, but in my experience an effort is made to get you what you need because art has value… to some people… my kind of people maybe yours too.

And here’s a story about how leading with art played out in Lola.

Early on I would really take anything. Even if I wasn’t a good fit. I could always do something creative with the job.

Now, Our big break project came in 2013 when we got a call for a tech celeb’s birthday party. He was eclectic and would need a lot of strange things made.

I would need to put together a proposal asap. I had minimal information about what was happening or who this was happening for. Oh and I had 4 weeks to concept, get sign off, build, and install this massive event. And I would never meet the actual client- the birthday boy.

I asked how I would be able to do this without some sort of info about the project- with no budget range. She said, give me a number that there’s no way this could ever go over, and that will be the budget.

I said 50K because at the time, I thought, there’s no way anything could ever go over 50K. (Palm to forhead…. Groan.)

I asked how they found me and they had said that they asked the catering manager at their venue and she had said that Lola Creative was the only people she knew that could pull it off.

And then it occurred to me….

….The reason for that is on all of those small jobs that were not quite right, I would make an extra piece that was totally represented our company.

I’d walk the catering manager, planner, anyone in the industry over to look at it, and say with joy why I loved it so much.

This catering manager didn’t see all the boring stuff I had made during my first couple of years. She saw all the stuff I asked her to see, all the stuff I practically shoved in her face.

Because of that, I am now the only person that comes to mind when she had a golden egg to hand out!

That particular kind of golden egg, anyway.

Yes!

So whatever is your art. Whether that be an amazing service, or a unique technique- whatever you want the responsibility to be known for. Lead with that. Put it in people’s faces even when they don’t ask for it.

That way people will know, when they get YOU, they get THIS, and that is how it has to be.

That way when people want THIS, they know they have to have YOU. You are necessary for THIS.

Come with an artist’s mindset about that and start seeing a new freedom among clients who want that thing and trust you exclusively to deliver it.

Oh man I get pumped up about this.

Lead with Art!

If you’re struggling with leading with art. Sign up to our inner floral posse. We talk about this sort of stuff. AND we have an upcoming product (September) that may make leading with art in your company a little easier 🙂

Slow Flowers Summit – Flower Wall Demo

Hello, hello! Today I want to show you a super cool new way to build a flower wall. We built this beaut as a communal building experience for this year’s Slow Flowers Summit attendees. If you haven’t heard about it, read about it here. Need I tell you that its foam free? No, I do not. Of course it is!

We’ve used this flower wall technique in the past for Seattle’s 2016 Art Fair; where it wowed outside during a hot, sunny August day in Seattle (hot and sunny DO happen in Seattle, we just don’t tell you about them). The point is, it holds up in heat, is pretty easy to construct, and is more sustainable than a van full of foam. This particular construction is strong enough to be stacked into an enormous wall. You can see such enormous wall stacking and construction of this in video from last year’s ART FAIR if you click here!

PS, if you are here looking for FLOWER WALL PRICING AND SPECIFIC INGREDIENTS, we are giving that away to folks who want to be part of our email flower posse. There’s a link at the bottom.

But back to our flower wall demo. About a month ago, I had the privilege to speak at Seattle’s first Slow Flowers Summit. Have you ever had a communal experience where you are surrounded by inspiring people and all you can think is “YASSSS, These are my people.” And suddenly it’s all you can do to NOT throw your arms around complete stranger and babble like you’ve been friends since you were 13? Like you ARE 13?!

This was one of those times. My talk was about Reinvention. But we also were asked to demo this wall. Really THE wall. We got the royal treatment as the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, SUOT farms and Alaskan Peonies donated buckets of flowers. Ehem, did I mention that we got the first cut of Alaskan Peonies, which were then airplaned (is that a verb? … is now.) with their human caretakers. These peonies were larger than my face, and my brother says my face is large.

For Flower walls, we use two methods. This one is the “moss and cage” or the “moss sandwich”. Our other go-to wall is a bioboard wall. We demo that soon. Stay tuned for a DIY video on how we made the Queen Bee’s backdrop, which is equally excellent but is useful in a totally different way. Here’s a breakdown of why you would use each wall..

Now that you get the basics, lets get your materials together! For this moss and cage wall, you will need:

You’ll Need:

(3) Lumber 2in x 2in x 8ft

Drill and bit

A roll of chicken wire

Zip ties

(2) 4 x 6ft display grids, we got ours from Grand and Benedicts but you can find them at any retail display fixture store. If you are in a city, you probably have one.

Bindwire

(5) bags of moss

Wire cutters

Saw (human powered or otherwise)

Flowers, flowers and more flowers!

2 saw horses or a table. This is easier to build horizontally

Step 1: Wrap the Grid

Cover one side of each grid with chicken wire.

To get an idea of how this will look, try imagining the structure like a sandwich. The “condiments” (chicken wire) will be on the inside of the bread (the grid) to hold in the meat (the moss). For us, two long pieces of chicken wire was just the right amount to cover one side.

Starting with one piece of chicken wire, secure it to the grid with bind wire. Make sure you weave around the perimeter and throughout the middle. This keeps it from slipping or bulging. To save some bind wire, I cut a couple 3″ pieces and did little twist ties in random spots.

Step 2: Measure and Cut the Spacers

We are going to use the 2X2s as spacers, this ensures your thickness is uniform. We are going to pack in the moss but the spacers ensure that if there is a thin/ or dryer spot, the face won’t warp. It’s also critical if you are making a wall that is larger than your grid size (like in that video).

Measure the length and width of your grid. Cut your 2X2s to size. Remember to cut your short ends to account for the width of the longer pieces. We will want the shorties to fit inside the long pieces. All spacers should be attached Under the perimeter of your grid.

Step 3: Drill the Spacers and Zip Tie to the Grid

Choose a drill bit that gives enough room for one zip tie to slide through.

Next, drill a hole about two inches from the end and then continue to drill a hole every 4″ or so.

Once they’ve been drilled, attach the wood spacers to the grid by securing a zip tie through every other hole.

Step 4: Repeat on Other Grid

Cover the other grid with chicken wire as you did in Step 1. You won’t need spacers on this one, just the chicken wire. This will be the top piece of ‘bread’ to our sandwich.

Step 5: Moss It Up and Close the Sandwich

We’ll be adding moss to the grid with the spacers, so you may need to switch your setup now.

Grab your 5 bags of moss and get to town! Don’t spread this sparingly; pack as much moss in as you’ve got. Its very important that this is thick. You want your stems to be lodged in the moss and hydrated. Too loose and your stems may stay but they won’t get as much hydration.

Once every area feels full and even, lay the other grid on top of the moss. Grab more zip ties and connect the spacers to the top grid. Try adding one on one side then adding one on the opposite side for an even and super tight grid. Ensure your zip ties are rotated to the outside of the spacer- so your top grid can be cinched down right on top of the spacer.

Step 6: Water and Flower Prep

You’re almost done! Have someone help you move this outside or somewhere you don’t mind getting a lot of water on the floor. “Is it heavy,” you ask? Yes.

Take your hose and drench the whole thing so that every area is dripping water onto the floor. Do it a few more times. You’ll want to give the moss a chance to really absorb as much water as possible. You can also pre-soak your moss before adding to the grid. That way you have full moss absorption but it is messier. We went for the less messy option this time.

Prep your flowers, cutting the stems to about 3″-4″ long.

Step 7: Make it a FLOWER Wall!

Add in those darn flowers and foliage and consider yourself a Flower Wall Extraordinaire! The moss should keep it moist for a full day and probably longer, but I would test it in your neck of the woods to be sure.

Although not necessary, you may want to build a boarder around it as we did with leftover bio-board and some wrapping paper.

Some additional notes:

Timing: You can make this in advance but I would add a bit of flower glue to each stem to be sure it doesn’t dislodge in transport. I typically add greens in the shop and add all the flowers in on site.

We’ve done this wall 3 times and I am ALWAYS impressed with how long the flowers last. They typically look great the next day and most of the flowers still look great days later. I include some images of what the flowers look like after two days squished in my hot van after the summit. You will be amazed. I am still conservative in adding flowers too far in advance but . I would urge you to test a patch in your area.

Super thirsty flowers may not be a good idea for this wall type- though you can always tube your flowers and that works well. Particular species that I don’t use in this wall are Hydrangea, raspberry foliage, sweet pea, or any other herbaceous, soft stemmed flower or foliage.

How much does this cost? Simply put, lots. Sign up for our Flower posse and we’ll go over that. If you’ve liked this information, you’ll like what you get as a part of our inner circle.

THE FLOWER POSSE!

Make Your Own Crown with Worbla

Hey beehive! As a creator of flowery, arty things, I often find myself stumbling upon new materials to work with.

Worbla just so happens to be one of those things that I saw and *could not* not buy. One thing I love about using different materials is that it constantly pushes the boundaries of what I think I am capable of and inspires the Queen Bee in me to be proud of the things I am able to make.

Both the flower crown here and the collar are made with a worbla base and covered in leaves and flowers. Raise your hand if you love leaves as scales. (I feel the wind of a thousand hands:)

Worbla is fantastic for many reasons, mainly:

Its non-toxic

You don’t have to be a super skilled crafts(wo)man to work with it. If you’ve ever dried your hair or stuck a sticker on something (not necessarily in that order) then you are good:)

The only tool needed is a heat gun

Scraps/mess-ups can be heated, molded back together and then used again!

For this styled shoot, we used this material to construct her crown and flared collar. We figured that this Queen Bee was going to be a force to be reckoned with so she had to bring something to the table that your average gardeny flower crown-wearing bohemian bee might not. I mean, the world can use a different flower crown. mmmmmm-iright?

Now that you’re feeling like you’re ready to push your flower crown boundaries, buzz on over to our Youtube Channelby clicking on the picture below and make your own with us!

Want to be a part of our busy bee circle? We are working up some sweet things for you! Add your e-mail below and gain access to my hour long floral demonstration where I explain the complete breakdown of centerpiece arrangements- all foam free. Oh, and you’ll also get updates on new DIY projects! Pretty sweet.

DIY Chic Billy Ball Bouquet – Video

Curious Lola – Queen Bee Billy Ball Bouq

Honey, I’m home! Something about this atypical billy ball bouquet inspires the DIY queen in me. Perhaps because I’ve grown up with honeybees, but maybe because ‘atypical’ is my jam. If you’re like me, you’ll love to get your hands on some billy balls and take a whack at this fun pollen-esque bouquet.

If you’ve never made a bouquet, have no fear! This is a great one to start out with because of the simplicity. Plus, we have supplied a quick three minute video below with step by step instructions!

The materials include:

Billy balls, billy buttons, or woolly heads– whatever you title these tiny flowers, crespedia is a known favorite of mine. So much so that we also decked out this crazy collar with them!

Now its time to buzz on over to our Youtube Channel (don’t forget to subscribe!), or click the video below and get to building your bouquet! Don’t forget to show us your creations!

Curious Lola – Queen Bee Billy Ball Bouquet

Join the Bad Ass Bee Club that is Curious Lola by typing in your email below. You’ll immediately unlock some precious honey, a.k.a. a super thorough centerpiece demonstration and you’ll be first to know when our next DIY projects are up, how sweet of us!